Can You Feel It?
by Infinity13
Summary: After bumping into each other, literally, Kotone and Silver end up being stuck sharing a room at a Pokemon Center over night, and Silver battles with the feelings he has for her.


Disclaimer - I do not own Pokemon or any of these characters, Nintendo does.

* * *

Silver laughed dully as he watched the opposing Espeon faint at the feet of his Feraligatr, who roared in triumph over his fallen opponent. He looked over his shoulder and gave his Trainer a toothy grin as he tromped back over to him. His tail wagged behind him and he barked happily, his mood completely shifting from the vicious beast he was during the battle. But Silver just rolled his eyes and turned away from the battle scene. "You want to know why you lost? It's because you're weak, you stupid little boy. Now go away before you embarrass yourself further. And if I were you, I would choose a new life occupation, cause you're going to get nowhere being a trainer." he sneered.

The youngster gawked at the redhead, wondering what kind of person would say such harsh words. He ran forward and scooped his beloved Espeon in his arms before fleeing the scene and trying to get us much distance between Silver and himself as tears stung his eyes.

"Hah. That's right, run away. Weakling." Silver said, smirking as if the thought amused him, which it most obviously did.

Feraligatr let out a puff of air through his nostrils, shaking his head sadly at the arrogance of his trainer. As much as he loved Silver, his rather large ego was quite annoying at the best of times.

Silver spun back around to face the Big Jaw Pokemon, holding out his Pokeball. "Return. We have work to do if we're ever going to get stronger, so we can finally beat Kotone." he said. As he spoke Kotone's name, his heart fluttered slightly. And this disgusted him. He hated it. He hated the effect the cheerful Champion had on him. At times like this, he wanted to rip his heart out of his chest and stomp out all of the emotions that weakling had infected him with. It just felt weird feeling such things, and it didn't help that he was starting to feel them towards her. No. He had to stop thinking like that. If he ever wanted to become the most powerful trainer, he couldn't afford to think that way. Silver shook his head and pushed the small button on the front of the Pokeball and Feraligatr disappeared from his sight. He placed the Pokeball inside of his pocket and walked away in the opposite direction the youngster ran off in.

Silver held his chin high as he walked down the dirt road, his hands held behind his back. He'd show everyone that he wasn't weak, that he could become strong. He'd show the world what he was made of. And he'd prove to himself that he was nothing like his father. He stumbled slightly in his stride when at he thought of his father and the pain of memories flashed through his eyes. There was nothing he could do about his terrible heritage, except to prove that he was better than that. He needed to prove that he is a stronger man than his father was, which is exactly what he planned on doing. "That rotten bastard." he muttered under his breath, the corners of his lips curving down as he scowled.

Seemingly out of nowhere, something knocked into Silver, hard. He stumbled backwards, tipping over his heels, and as he failed to regain his balance, he found himself falling, and colliding with the ground. Once he recovered from the initial shock of the disturbance, his expression turned to one of rage. "Watch where the hell you're going! Am I invisible? Cause last time I checked, it's impossible to walk through other people!" he shouted as he scrambled back to his feet. "Get away from me, before I begin to catch your stupidity."

"Silver?"

Her innocent voice froze the redhead in his place, his silver eyes widening as he turned them towards the girl he had just ran into. "Kotone?" he asked, his loud booming voice being reduced to one just above a whisper.

Kotone giggled at his reaction, brushing the dirt off of her clothes as she stood up from her fall. "Yes, that'd be me." she said, giving him a cheerful grin.

Silver shook his head to snap himself out of his sudden daze. His eyes met her large chocolate ones, all indecent thoughts disappearing from his mind as he stared straight into them. "Wh-what are you doing here?" he stuttered as he began recollecting himself.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm on a walk to enjoy this nice spring day! After all these rainy days, I just couldn't resist soaking up a bit of the sun. Cause who knows when the next sunny day could be, since I heard we weren't going to be seeing much of the sun in the next few days. It seemed like a fun thing to do, especially since I've been cooped up in a Pokemon Center for days with nothing to do! Do you know how boring that is? Trust me, it's quite boring. I felt like my brain was rotting! And that's not a very good feeling at all. Those rooms are so dreary and plain, too! It's like-" Kotone was abruptly cut off as Silver clamped his hand over her mouth.

Silver held a highly annoyed expression on his face as he stared at her. His eyes twitched slightly and he clenched his teeth together, biting his tongue to keep himself from retaliating.

Kotone frowned and narrowed her eyes ever so slightly in annoyance to her rival's action. She let out a deep sigh through her nose, and then her eyes lit up as an idea came to mind.

Silver opened his mouth to say something when he saw the look in her eyes, knowing he wasn't going to like what she was about to do. But before he could do anything, he felt something wet smear across his hand, and he quickly retracted it from her face. He gripped his dry hand around the wrist of the other as he stared down at it. The incomprehensible noise that came out of his mouth was a mixture of shock and disgust, as he wiped the saliva off on his jeans. "Kotone!" he whipped his head up to look at her. "What the hell was that for?!" he yelped, his eyes wide.

Kotone just laughed at him. She wrapped her arm around her stomach as she started laughing harder, the motion beginning to hurt. "That was for putting your hand on my mouth. And what exactly was that for?" she asked between gasps as she tried to calm down from her laughing fit.

Silver narrowed his eyes at her, crossing his arms across his chest. "You talk too much." he stated simply, lifting his chin up slightly higher than before in a state of defiance.

Kotone raised an eyebrow at him and the corners of her lips twitched as she resisted the smile that was threatening to be exposed. "I talk too much? If you think that's a lot, then you should hear yourself during one of your temper tantrums." she said, then giggled as she pictured him yelling and screaming, pulling at his red locks of hair and his bright silver eyes practically bulging out of his head in anger.

Silver just frowned at her, giving her a look that clearly stated that he was unamused. "I don't have temper tantrums." he could practically hear his Pokemon sighing at him from within their balls. "And you talk way more than I ever have. You could probably carry out a conversation with yourself for hours without even noticing that you're talking to no one." he taunted, his lips curving up in a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" Kotone asked, placing her hands on her hips with a smirk brimming her features. She stomped up to him, her face nearly a few inches from his. "Take it back." she said, closing her eyes and lifting her chin up with a degree of arrogance, something she had learned from her rival himself.

Silver's mind was about as black as a sheet of paper. He could feel her light breath blowing on his face and he found his eyes staring down at her pale, pink lips. How much he wanted to press his lips against hers and taste her and- "Ack!" he stumbled backwards, his own thoughts scaring him half to death. His heart was speeding a mile per second and his cheeks were burning a bright scarlet. He bit his lower lip, praying to Arceus that he had only been imagining what he was just thinking, but he knew it was true. This would happen every time he stood too close to her. And he hated it, almost as much as he hated his life right now.

"Silver?" Kotone asked, her eyes shooting open to see what was going on, and what she saw had her fumbling for answers. Silver's eyes were wide, his face quite red, and his hands shaking, a lot. When he didn't respond, she began to get worried. "Silver? Are you okay?" she tried again, reaching out to him this time.

The redhead shrank back from her and nodded hastily. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" he scoffed, crossing his arms. He tilted his head away from her, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he avoiding meeting her gaze.

Kotone sighed and rolled her eyes, reaching out and grabbing his wrist before he could move to get away from her. "No, you're not. Now come on, I'll take you to see Nurse Joy. She will know what's going on in there." she said, prodding a finger at his chest before pulling his arm in the direction of the nearest Pokemon Center.

"What?! Kotone, no!" Silver protested. He pulled his arm in her grasp, but he knew he wasn't going to get anywhere. As much as he hated to admit it, Kotone was a much stronger woman than she appeared to be. "You've got to be kidding me! I don't need some stupid nurse to tell what's wrong with me. Which, by the way, there is nothing wrong with me!" he growled at her, his eyes narrowing has he tried prying her fingers off of his wrist.

Kotone gave him one of her 'oh really?' looks, but didn't respond any further to the shouting and flailing trainer behind her.

* * *

"Nurse Joy!" Kotone called in a sing-song voice as she pushed through the doors of the Center, a bright grin plastered on her face. She held Silver's hand in hers as she pulled him inside. He had stopped protesting by now, but that didn't erase the furious expression from his face. She wondered if she'd ever regret doing this. Nah, probably not.

Nurse Joy looked up and smiled when she saw Kotone, though it faltered for a moment as her gaze rested upon Silver. She'd heard bad things about the boy, and was very curious as to why Kotone, that sweetheart, would choose the company of that hot-headed trainer. "Yes, my dear?" she replied, coming out from behind the counter.

Kotona let go of Silver's wrist and pushed him towards the pink haired lady. "He needs your help." she said, clasping her hands together as she gave her a pleading look.

"What?! No! I don't need anyone's help! I'm perfectly fine the way I am, damn woman!" Silver tossed a glare back at her, crossing his arms stubbornly across his chest.

Nurse Joy raised an eyebrow. "He seems perfectly fine, with the exception of an attitude problem. But that's not something I can help with." she said, holding back a smile.

Silver's head jerked to the side to look at her. "Why you little-" he began to march forward, but Kotone instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist to keep him from going anywhere.

"No! Silvy!" Kotone buried her face into his jacket and tightened her grip on him. "Don't hurt her!" she whined, not wanting his temper to get the better of him and to end up hurting innocent people.

Silver froze, and not just because she had called him by that wimpy nickname again. He looked down, his gaze freezing on her locked arms around his torso. His heart thumped irregularly in his chest and his hands began to get sticky with sweat. He could feel her heartbeat, fast like his, against his back. He just stood there, frozen, and unsure about what to do. Part of him felt at home in her hold, wanting to stay there forever, while the more dominant part was kicking and screaming to get out. He wasn't sure what to do, so he just stood there and his heart flip-flopped inside of him as she held him tighter. She wasn't making this any easier, being so close to him. He felt like he could explode from all the conflicting feelings within him. "Let go of me!" Silver finally managed to speak, fidgeting in her grasp as he tried to pry himself free.

Nurse Joy smiled as she watched the two, seeing their bond for what it really was. She could tell they cared for each other more than they realized, and that they were both oblivious to how the other was feeling. "Oh, how cute." she laughed softly.

Silver glared at her, momentarily pausing in his struggle. "Cute? You think this is cute? It's not cute at all! It's actually quite annoying. Now let go of me, you clingy little devil!" he demanded, trying harder this time to get out.

"Devil?" Kotone squeaked, snapping her out of her day dreaming daze. She let go of him and smacked him across the back of his head. "I am not the devil!" she stomped her foot in frustration with the arrogant boy. "Jerk." she declared, sticking her tongue out at him

"Jerk? Is that the best you could come up with?" Silver tilted his head back as he laughed at her attempt to insult him. "You can do so much better than that, Pigtails." he added, his tone laced with flirtatiousness as he smirked down at her.

Kotone's face lit up like wildfire, her cheeks about as bright as Silver's hair. "Wh-what?" she stuttered, unable to comprehend the fact that Silver was flirting with her. He might not be flirting with her like most guys do, but he wasn't like most guys. Not that she wanted him to be like most guys, because she definitely didn't. She liked him just the way he was, but she was beginning to wonder if there was someone else hidden beneath all his arrogance.

Silver chuckled softly. "You heard me." he said before turning away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'd better be getting on my way. You know, Pokemon to train, trainers to beat, titles to earn." he said with an almost evil grin as he headed towards the door.

"You can't leave now." Nurse Joy peeped up as Silver was just about to step right out there door. "I mean, it would be quite unwise to leave. It's getting late and I'm sure your Pokemon must be exhausted. You're probably hungry and tired, too. You should at least stay the night." she proposed.

The egoistic redhead froze halfway through the door. "Are you trying to tell me what to do?" he asked roughly, turning on his heels to look her in the eyes. "Cause I don't think you want to tell me what to do. You will probably regret it soon afterwards." he crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"Silvy... She's right. Can't you just cooperate and be a nice trainer for once?" Kotone pleaded, clasping her hands together and held them up by her face, sticking out her lower lip slightly and her eyes a bit watery for effect. She wanted him to be kind towards his Pokemon, but the real reason for her pleading was that she wanted him to stay. She didn't want him to leave her here all alone.

Silver forced a smirk, as if he wasn't affected by her look, but in reality, it was quite the opposite. He could feel his heart melting at the sight of her like that, but there was no way in hell that he'd ever admit that. "No way." he scoffed, shaking his head in jerky motions.

Kotone hopped forward and clung to his arm, sticking her face in his. "Please." she whined, dragging along the 'e' at the end as she stared up in his silver eyes with her wide hazel ones. "For me." she added for his ears only.

"I-I..." Silver stuttered as he stared down at her, his mind going blank. He ordered himself to just carry on his way and walk out the door, but something held his feet into place and made him say, "Fine." He was surprised to hear that come out of his own mouth, but there was nothing he could do about it now as Kotone dragged him back over to Nurse Joy.

"We're staying!" she said happily, grinning madly as she jumped up and down with excitement.

Nurse Joy held in a smile as she watched the two of them, handing Kotone a key to one of the back rooms. "Good. But there's only one room left, so you're going to have to share it. Goodnight!" she said. She made her way down to her own room, though she stopped in the doorway. "Have fun, you two." she teased before shutting the door behind her.

Silver's cheeks flared red at her comment, gritting his teeth to stop himself from rampaging after her. Only one room? And he had to share it with Kotone?! Could this night get any worse? He would rather sleep outside on a bench than share a room with her. "No way! I'm not sharing a room with you!" he said, tugging his arm out of her hold.

Kotone hoped she wasn't blushing as much as she thought. The idea of sharing a room with Silver made her heart start to do flips inside her chest. "Do you really see any other option? You've got nowhere else to stay, unless you head over to the next town, which I am not going to let you do at this late at night!" she said stubbornly, pushing him into the room she had swiftly unlocked.

"But-" Silver started to protest, but he was abruptly cut off as Kotone hushed him by punching him in the arm. "Ow! What the hell was that for?" he growled, narrowing his eyes slightly.

"For being you." Kotone stated simply, frowning as she closed the door behind the two of them. She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door, her frown changing into a smirk as she watched him.

Silver raised an eyebrow, scowling as he met her gaze. "What's that supposed to mean? And stop staring at me like that, it's weird." he said, fidgeting slightly in his spot.

Kotone laughed softly and shook her head. "Oh, nothing." she said, bringing her hand to cover her mouth as she giggled lightly. She ignored the dirty look Silver was giving her and moved towards the bed sitting in the center of the room. She kicked off her shoes and sat down on the edge of the bed, cocking her head to the side as she looked up at him. "Are you just going to stand there all night?"

Silver's turned a light shade of pink and he shook his head vigorously. "Well of course not, stupid. I'm tired, therefore, I shall sleep." he said with a scowl. "Do you get the picture?"

Kotone rolled her eyes, brushing off the hurtful comment. "Yes, I understand." she replied, hoping that her ignorance of his insults would stop him from continuing them.

"Right." Silver spoke sarcastically and turned his eyes to the bed. The one bed. His eyes widened at the realization that there was only one bed in the room, and that if he planned on sleeping in it, he would be sharing it with Kotone. "Wait. There's no way in hell that I'm sleeping with you." he growled, his eyes narrowing after he got over the initial shock.

Kotone's cheeks grew hot at his words, wishing he had phrased it differently than that. "W-well... I could sleep on the floor, if you really want." she offered, her voice high and squeaky. She didn't really want to give up the bed, but she also didn't want to anger her rival, especially if he was going to be stuck in the same room with her for who knows how long.

Silver hesitated, but only for second before saying, "Good. That way I don't have to force you off." he said, his lips curving downwards in a scowl. "Now get off so I can sleep."

Kotone pouted at him, her big chocolate eyes staring up at him, but Silver just stood there, unwavered by her. She sighed softly and pushed herself off of the bed, wacking him in the arm with the back of her hand as she passed. "Meanie." she muttered and plopped herself on the floor at the foot of the bed.

"Yes, I'm a big meanie. Now get over it." the irritated redhead said and rolled his eyes in annoyance at her immature use of words. He grabbed one of the pillows on the bed and tossed it at her. "Here. Now go to bed." he practically growled and pulled the chain on the lamp beside him, plunging the room into darkness.

* * *

Lightning streaked across the windows, lighting the small room with a ghostly glow. Thunder was quick to follow and shook the room with colossal force, waking the petite brunette from her sleep.

Kotone gasped and grabbed at the blanket wrapped around her, her chest heaving up and down. She sat up quickly and glanced around the room, her eyes wide with fright, but as soon as they landing on the sleeping redhead, she began to settle down. "That's right... I'm at the Pokemon Center with Silver because of the storm..." she muttered, cringing as the thunder went off again. She glanced over at the window and watched the lightning light up the room, the strikes coming frequently after one another.

"Ugh..." Kotone complained, flopping back down on her pillow. "There's no way I'm going back to sleep." she sighed and then raised her eyes up to the bed, a small smirk growing on her lips.

Silver jolted, his eyes snapping open as something was stabbed into his side. "What the-" he suddenly jumped back, arms and legs flailing as he slipped off the edge of the bed. He landed with a large, muted thud and clumsily pushed himself to his feet, sleep still clouding his system. "Damn it, woman! Couldn't you see that I was sleeping?" he hissed, narrowing his eyes at her.

All Kotone could do was giggle as she watched Silver fumble over himself, his stare no longer affecting her. "Oh, Silvy-wilvy." she hummed, crawling onto the bed.

Silver's cheeks glowed almost as red as his hair as he watched her, his heart beating irregularly in his chest. "Uh..." he stammered, shifting his weight uncomfortably from foot to foot. "M-may I ask why you woke me up?" he ordered, though it didn't sound as powerful as he wanted with his newfound stutter.

Kotone's grin disappeared and she sat down, criss-cross, on top of the sheets. "I, um, I'm scared of the..." she cringed as thunder rang throughout the room again, "Thunder..." she muttered, her cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

Silver blinked. He stared at the girl he had known to be fearless for as long as he had known her, who he was now finding out, was scared of a little thunder. All of a sudden, he burst out laughing, almost falling over again. "You...you're scared of thunder?!" he snickered, having to lean against the wall to keep from falling.

"Jerk!" Kotone accused, scowling. She looked to the pillow beside her and picked it up, throwing it at him with all of her might. "I can't believe you would laugh at me over something so serious!" she shouted, and was about to throw the last pillow left on the bed, when more thunder cracked. She squealed and flattened herself on the bed, clinging to the sheets as she stared wide eyed at Silver.

Silver's laughed faded off as he looked back at her, slowly walking back to the edge of the bed. "You okay?" he asked softly, unsure about what he was doing.

Kotone shook her head, burying it into the pillow. "No. I'm not okay, stupid." she muttered, most of her words being lost in the pillow.

Silver hesitated, trying to think out what he was going to do, but his mind was too jumbled and confused to make sense of what was going on. He grabbed the pillow that Kotone had thrown and brought it back to the bed, slowly climbing in with her. He pulled the sheets over them and rested his head beside hers, looking at her with calm, silver eyes.

Kotone slowly turned her head to look at him, her eyes wide with confusion. "But-" she started, but the egoistic redhead put a finger to her lips to silence her.

"Don't... I might change my mind." Silver spoke softly, letting his finger slide down her lips after a moment.

Kotone blushed heavily, her lips still tingling where he touched her. Her heart sped up and her stomach began to flutter with imaginary butterflies. She had dreamed so long of this moment, but now that she was in it, she didn't know what to do. So she just stared at him, waiting for him to do something.

A smirk formed on Silver's lips as he watched her, his fingertips brushing her cheek as he tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "You don't have to be afraid anymore. I'll protect you." he whispered. His mind was screaming at him, telling him to stop whatever the hell he was doing and that he was being weak. But there was some part of him that was telling him that what he was doing was the right thing to do, what he was supposed to do, and he chose to listen to that part of him tonight.

"Thank...you." Kotone whispered and smiled brightly at him. She placed her hand over his and slowly closed her eyes, holding his hand to her as she fell asleep.

Silver couldn't help but smile, and once he saw that she was asleep, leaned forward and softly kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, Kotone.

* * *

Kotone could hear the birds chirping and could feel the sun streaming through the window on her face. She smiled softly as the memories of last night drifted to her. "Morning." she hummed and opened her eyes, only to find that the bed was empty beside her. She frowned and sat up, looking around the room. "Silver?" she called, but noticed that there wasn't any traces of him lying around the room. All of his stuff was gone.

The Trainer sighed softly and pushed herself out of bed, rubbing her eyes once she was standing. She should have expected as much. It wasn't like she really thought that Silver had feelings for her, he was just trying to be nice. But last night couldn't have meant nothing to him, and it definitely didn't mean nothing to her. The way he way he had acted stated that he didn't just think of her as the annoying little Trainer who was always getting in his way. No, she meant something else to him, something much more than that. And right now, that was more than enough for her.


End file.
